


Revolution Radio

by WeaverOfWorlds



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Mundane, Matt and Brian will show up eventually I promise, Other, i have a plan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-11-23 07:59:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11398389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeaverOfWorlds/pseuds/WeaverOfWorlds
Summary: Vox Machina are your typical high school punk rock band; musically gifted as fuck, probably way too edgey for their own good and thick as thieves. They've known each other for five years and have pulled each other from even the darkest of situations.But now, as the corporate group known as the Chroma Conclave threatens to demolish their school and commercialise the entire city of Tal'Dorei, they must pull together and do whatever they can to keep them at bay.





	1. Chapter 1

Seven folders lay before him, Uriel Tal'Dorei, the principal of Emon High. They were his most troublesome students but he had to admit they got things done.

 _tok tok tok tok tok_  deliberate and determined footfalls made their way down the arts corridor, heading to their destination without a second of pause.

_Vax'ildan ~~Vessar;~~ one of a pair of twins. He and his sister are two of the school’s stealthiest students, him being the sneakiest. He had once been apart of the gang known as The Clasp, and had a criminal record of theft and attempted murder, however he’s made an impressive turnaround in the last year and had actually helped incarcerate other members. There was an additional note in his file; the last teacher to insist on calling him by his father’s last name of Vessar had ended up in hospital with a concussion after being struck with the handle of Vax'ildan’s pocket knife._

_Vex'ahlia ~~Vessar~~ ; twin of Vax'ildan. She is the head of Emon High’s archery club and extremely savvy, helping other school clubs finance efficiently. Like her brother, Vex'ahlia has shunned the name of Vessar and refuses to respond to it. Additionally, she is the owner of a large newfoundland dog named Trinket who she refuses to be away from._

_tok tok tok tok_  they exited the eastern stairwell and began making their way through the languages department, still unwavering in their destination.

_Percival de Rolo III; one of the school’s prize engineering students and a survivor of an attack on his wealthy family by the Briarwood family gang. The previous year, he and the other students in his circle helped bring the head of the family to justice and rescued his youngest sister and only other surviving de Rolo, Cassandra._

_Keyleth; a daughter of the Ashari; a people who once were travellers but have in recent generations settled down in four communities across the state of Exandria, she is taking a break in her Aramente to pursue higher education. She’s the leader of the gardening club which she runs with other nature loving students and, despite being the heir to the head of her people, she has shown herself to be very humble._

_tok tok tok tok_  they passed the Abyssal classroom and took a left to head across the quad to the sports and combat department where the more physically strong students trained. Faintly, they began hearing music from the gym and a smile spread across their face.

_Grog Strongjaw; his file shows a history of being a victim of domestic abuse, beaten almost daily by his uncle Kevdak after the passing of his father Stonejaw. It also shows him being afflicted with the condition known as gigantism, making him abnormally tall for his age. While he has shown to be exceedingly strong, he is mostly gentle with his support workers and with his friends. According to his file, this is a result of being adopted by Pike Trickfoot’s great grandfather. Grog is the captain of the school’s wrestling team, and is the champion of the Crucible Gym in the town of Vasselheim in the neighbouring city of Esylra._

_Pike Trickfoot; according to her file, Uriel observes, Pike was taken from her parents and direct family by her great grandfather due to them being crooks who cared little for the young girl. Her family, similar to Grog’s, suffered a congenital growth disorder. However, while Grog’s family were larger than normal, the Trickfoots had dwarfism, making them rather tiny. After they took in Grog, the two have been as inseparable as the twins. Her following of the old, pagan goddess of healing and redemption, Sarenrae, leads her to be an invaluable assistant to the school first aid team as she spent a good portion of her home life studying medicine under her great grandfather._

_tok tok… tok_ the figure came to a halt outside of the gym, hearing the heavy guitar and drums through the oaken double doors.

_Scanlan Shorthalt, pride of the music course, is probably one of the more troublesome member of the group. He already had a criminal record for possession of Class A substances, but he had been able to convince the authorities he was only holding onto it for someone. His charisma has helped him through almost his whole life, however, Uriel suspected his luck would soon run out._

_According to all files, this group of individuals had met around five years prior, in Stilben Middle School, and had bonded quite quickly. They’d gotten each other in and out of many scrapes in the past and had eventually formed a band upon entering high school. Vox Machina they were called. The Voice in the Machine._

The figure pushed open the doors and entered the gym. As they had expected, they were greeted by the band in practice.

Vax'ildan and Vex'ahlia were on lead vocals and guitar, dressed in mirroring outfits and both singing with voices full of passion.

Percival was playing on an electronic harpsichord, apparently an instrument he had built himself if Scanlan’s rumours were to be believed. Despite the heavy nature of the song being performed, the white haired teen’s fingers still danced gracefully across the keys.

Keyleth cradled a bass guitar in her permanently chlorophyll-stained fingers, backing up the twins as her eyes sparkled with fun.

At the back of the stage, Grog was playing the drums with an expert frenzy, keeping up with the twins’ fast-paced melody with ease.

Scanlan and Pike flanked the group on platforms that brought them up to the other’s heights and gripped microphones, providing backup vocals to the group.

Suddenly, the figure was startled by the loud barking of a huge canine. They stumbled back as Trinket advanced on them, usual composure suddenly lost.

The music stopped suddenly and Vex'ahlia leapt from the stage. “Trinket! No! Down boy!” She shouted, rushing over. “I’m so sorry Principal Uriel, he didn’t hurt you did he?”

Uriel cleared his throat and straightened his tie. “Not at all. I caught him off guard so I don’t blame him in the slightest.”

“So, is there a reason you’ve come to practice?” Vax'ildan asked from behind his sister.

“Yeah we can’t exactly accept you into the band, we’ve got a reputation to look after.” Scanlan had appeared at Uriel’s elbow. “You have any idea how lame we’d look with the  _principle_ in our band?”

“Don’t worry Scanlan. That’s the last thing I want. I’ve actually come to request your assistance.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Uriel explains the crisis at hand

The group gave Uriel a strange look, they’d had saved the principal’s son once from a kidnapper known as The Dread Emperor, and for that he’d said he was in their debt. However they all knew that Uriel Tal'Dorei was a very competent man. The fact he was coming to them again for help was slightly worrying.

Percy was the first to speak up, “request our assistance in what, pray tell?”

Uriel fiddled with his jacket slightly nervously, it was clear to the group that he was under a great deal of stress. “Vox Machina, do you recall the rumours you heard about a large corporate superpower known as Thordak Co. from the city of Wildmount? Well we have a problem. They have joined with three other companies; Umbrasyl Motors, Vorugal Weapons and Raishan Dynamics. They call themselves the Chroma Conclave and they’ve set their sights on the city of Tal'Dorei, specifically Emon High. I got a letter this morning from the CEO of Raishan Dynamics on behalf of the Cinder King himself, the head of Thordak Co; saying that he will buy the school and demolish it to make room for a central headquarters in Tal'Dorei.”

Grog scoffed, “and how are we supposed to help? Beat the shit outta that Cinder Shithead?”

Pike reached up and gently placed a hand on Grog’s hand. “No, I’m sure Principal Uriel wants us to negotiate something. Right, Mr Tal'Dorei?”

Uriel nodded, “Indeed. As embarrassing as it still is to admit, the seven of you, despite abysmal planning skills, manage to achieve amazing feats by bravado alone.”

Grog narrowed his eyes, “so, what’s in it for us?”

Vax elbowed the taller one hard in the ribs. “Not now dude, if you want haggling leave it to Vex.” He hissed.

Uriel chuckled, “I’ll put some thought into it. Though I think an obvious reward is not having this whole city turned into one big industry district.”

Scanlan stepped forward, “We’ll see what we can do. But just saying a cash reward wouldn’t go amiss.”

“How long have they given you?“ Vex’s voice was even and measured, clearly she was already making plans of her own.

“A month. But I don’t exactly trust Raishan to keep her word. She’s infamous all across the country of Exandria for being a deceiver through and through.”

“I see.” Vex mused, “are there any in this city?”

Vax gave his twin a side eye, he knew where she was going with this. “Yeah… any of them holed up somewhere close?”

The principal narrowed his eyes at the twins, “The CEO of Umbrasyl Motors, has apparently set up in Westrun, the next town over. But, please–”

Vox Machina gave a simultaneous nod and began packing their instruments away, all moving in concert.

“Whose turn is it to hold the meeting this time?” Scanlan asked, “Percy’s, right?”

Percy shook his head, “Cass is ill, unfortunately. How about Greyskull? I think it’s still there?”

Vex nodded, “I took Trinket for a walk down there this morning before Draconic Club, roof’s a little leaky but it’s still standing.”

Vax slung his guitar case over his shoulder and began heading for the door. “Right. I say we drop our stuff off in Kiki’s van to keep it safe and head there. Freddie, you got one of your booby traps handy?”

“I’ll have to stop by my locker but I think I have one spare.”

“Good. Scanman, you go with Percy to make sure none of the janitors see the miniature bomb he’s got. If anything does happen, you know what to do.”

Scanlan nodded, “Gotcha. We’ll meet you at the keep.”

Vax turned back to Uriel, “Don’t worry, Principal Uriel, Vox Machina have this under control.”


	3. Chapter 3

Percy strode through the halls at a quick pace, having handed his harpsichord to Keyleth. As school hours had ended roughly two hours prior, the classroom- and locker-lined halls had an eerie peace to them. A liminal space, Percy recalled, somewhere one’s mind so heavily associated with hustle and bustle that it felt almost wrong when it was empty.

“Hey Percy! Wait up okay I’ve only got little legs!” Scanlan’s voice echoed through the empty halls, further emphasising just how alone the two were here.

Percy smiled and leaned against the bank of lockers next to the dark red, wooden door of the algebra classroom, the cold and grey painted metal cold against his back. Emon High, and the city of Tal'Dorei in general, was in a particularly warm part of Exandria so all he wore was a plain, dark grey tank top and simple black track pants.

He glanced around at the walls, there was a flyer advertising Kiki’s gardening club; all golds and greens, Percy made a point of going whenever his Friday evenings were free. He enjoyed spending time with the Ashari Princess, and the two were good friends.

There was aslo a large poster for the swordplay and boxing clubs, both managed by the tenth grader known by all as Lady Kima. It also joint promoted yoga and self discipline sessions ran by Allura Vysorin; an eleventh grader who everyone knew was in a relationship with Kima.

Percy’s reverie was cut off as Scanlan caught up to him and half heartedly punched him in the side.

“Gods dammit de Rolo, you know I only have little legs.“

Percy chuckled and rolled his eyes, “Yeah I know I’m sorry.” He said sarcastically. “Anyway, c'mon, my locker is just round this corner.”

Rounding the corner in silence, Percy went to his locker and put in the combination.

_14-14-22-20-12-16_

Then he carefully slid his slender fingers through the small gap in the door and expertly unhooked the thin wire that served as a tripwire before opening the door fully.

Inside his locker was the usual organised chaos he kept there; a binder of blueprints, a binder for math, one for English and one for Latin. He moved the blueprints binder and reached back into the cavity he’d made there, gently pulling out one of his miniature claymore mines. In reality its effect was more akin to a flashbang grenade but it did exactly the job the tinkerer intended for it to do.

Suddenly, Scanlan’s voice came from around the corner

“Oh, hello there, Victor! How’re you doing this evening?”

Percy quickly stowed the not-yet-primed device and the syringe of vaporised gasoline in the pocket of his track pants and relocked his locker with the trap, casually rounding the corner to join his short friend and sure enough, Scanlan was stood facing the very scruffy and rather senile janitor, Victor.

The old man squinted at Scanlan, “Oh, hello there Scanlan. I’m doing quite well thank you, and yourself?”

Percy smiled and placed a hand on Scanlan’s shoulder. “Hello Victor, you’re just the man I was looking for. Do you perhaps have a small pouch of black powder you could give me? I’m running low.”

Victor nodded. “Indeed I do. You know the deal, right?“

Percy nodded. “Indeed. My bag is with my friends right now but I’ll place the money in your janitor’s closet by this time tomorrow. You have my word as a de Rolo.”

Scanlan looked from one to the other in confusion, not saying anything as the transaction went down.

Victor returned Percy’s nod. “I’ll be there at around 4pm with the goods, don’t be late.“

“I won’t, don’t you worry.” Percy turned his gaze back to his short friend. “C'mon Scanlan, the others are waiting back at Keyleth’s van, let’s go.”

After a quick goodbye to Victor, the pair made their way back along the algebra corridor and down the stairs to the parking lot out back.

Around halfway there, Scanlan broke the silence. “So, are you gonna ask Vex out yet?”

Percy stopped in his tracks, “what?”

Scanlan stopped too, turning back to Percy with a grin. “Oh c'mon dude, it’s obvious that you’re crushing on her. Can’t hide anything from the Scanman.”

The white haired teen scowled at the other, the bright sunlight glaring off the round lenses of his glasses. “You say a word and, I swear to the gods, you’ll regret it. Understood?”

Scanlan shuddered, mind flashing back to when they’d liberated Percy’s family’s estate from the corrupt Briarwoods. As scrawny as he was, Percy was downright terrifying when angered. “Yeah. Got it. Just don’t be afraid of telling her okay?”


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the walk to Keyleth's van was spent in silence. After Percy had snapped at him, Scanlan felt it best, and safest, to keep his mouth shut. 

Percy really had changed, the Scanlan reflected. When they'd first met Percy he'd been scarred and malnourished, Pike had almost immediately seen it as signs of having been severely beaten, almost tortured she'd said. 

Scanlan recalled Percy being scarily quiet after Vox Machina had taken him under their wing back in middle school. He'd arrived roughly a month after the gang had met, Principal Uriel assigning Pike to look after him which had led to him becoming part of the family. He'd lived with the twins for a long while, only able to return home after they'd ousted the corrupt Briarwood family from the de Rolo estate and freed his sister, Cassandra.

"Hey, guys! Took you long enough, did you run into one of the teachers?"

Scanlan was brought back to the present by Keyleth's greeting and he looked up to see her and the twins stood by her fern green Volkswagen van, the instruments already stored away.

Percy strode forward and began robotically setting up the trap without making eye-contact with Vex. "Sort of, ran into Victor. I'm running low on black powder so I set up a meeting to get more."

Scanlan looked at Vax, "Hey, where's Pikey and Grog?"

The taller one tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, "they went up ahead to make sure Greyskull was safe.  _'Don't want the roof falling on our heads'_  she said. And, well, you know Grog."

"Alright. Done." Percy stood up straight, sealing the door to the van with a click. "Now, please try and remember that's there. I'm not sure Keyleth's insurance covers bombs, especially not ones we put there ourselves."

"So don't let Grog open it, got it." Scanlan quipped, prompting laughter from the others.

"Basically, yeah." Percy conceded. 

Keyleth laughed uneasily as they began their walk to Greyskull Keep, "Yeah, I kinda live in there, I'd rather it not get blown up."

Vax stopped suddenly, "Wait, Kiki you still live in the van? You said you'd gotten an apartment."

Keyleth, too, stopped dead in her tracks, "Um..." Suddenly, she darted off with a loud shout. "Guys hurry! I think Grog and Pike are in trouble I just heard them scream!"

"Keyleth wait!!" Vax called after her, sprinting to catch up.

Left behind, Scanlan looked from Vex to Percy, sensing the awkwardness between them. "So... you two done the algebra homework for Ray yet? I'm fairly sure it's due tomorrow."

The two taller friends looked down at him in what looked like surprise; almost like they'd forgotten he was there.

"Yeah, I did it the day we got it." Percy said plainly. "I always do assignments the day I get them remember."

"Same here, though question G was absolute bullshit." 

Percy looked at Vex with mild amusement. "Y'know I did offer to tutor you on integers, remember?"

"Yeah well... I thought I had it." Vex said, avoiding eye contact and pouting slightly.

As they entered the woods at the bottom of the school field, the latent energies of nature calmed the three as they trod the familiar, overgrown path to their den. Keyleth had nurtured brambles to bar the way a good distance from the keep in order to keep out trespassers and after roughly a year of not being tended to it, had become much thicker. 

Still, they managed to pick their way around and crawled through the hidden tunnel that Grog had helped dig and line with a storm drainpipe before walking the last hundred feet or so to their old home away from home.


	5. Chapter 5

It was strange, being here again, Vex thought as she ducked into Greyskull Keep, leaving Trinket outside to keep watch. As soon as she crossed the threshold a massive wave of comfort washed over her and she immediately relaxed; though they had only built the place a little over a year ago, they still had fond memories attached to this place.

As she cast her eyes around the interior, she watched as Grog held up the roof as the sound of hammering could be heard from above, a clear indication of Pike working to patch up the rusted holes in the roof of old corrugated iron that the twins had scavenged from the local dump. Turning her attention to the back of the surprisingly spacious interior, Vex watched as Keyleth prodded with a stick in the small makeshift oven that she'd put together from large pieces of stone as a slightly tarnished copper kettle began to steam.

"Nice to be back, huh Stubby?"

Vex jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of her brother's voice over her shoulder. 

"Wow," he said, smiling cheekily, "I haven't managed to scare you in, like, months. Either I'm getting better or you're slipping."

Vex laughed, playfully punching his arm. "I was distracted, that's the only reason you got me. But yeah, it is nice to be back. It's weird though, it kinda reminds me of our old place; y'know, before we met the others. Except it feels more comfortable."

"Maybe it's because this time it's on your own terms rather than because you had no other choice." Grog's voice startled the twins who looked around to see a rather thoughtful smile on his face. "I mean, back then it was this kinda thing or nothing. Now you're here by choice. The power is yours and you can go back to wherever if you need somewhere warm or something."

Vax chuckled. "I forget how insightful you can be sometimes, big guy."

They heard a rattling and looked to Keyleth who had just taken a pack of antibacterial wipes from her satchel and was going about thoroughly cleaning the mugs that were still somehow there and intact from their last visit. 

Soon, Pike had returned from patching up the roof and Keyleth set the cups of tea she'd just brewed for them around the rather weathered table.

A grim silence fell as they all tried to figure out how they were going to solve this problem. In the past, it had been simple infiltration missions, like with rescuing Cassandra and gathering enough evidence to indict the Briarwoods irrefutably. This was different, though; they were up against major corporations with millions of dollars of lawyers and they were just a bunch of teenagers in a band.

Suddenly, the sound of Keyleth's phone shattered the silence and made them all jump. Glancing down at the caller ID, Keyleth gave a sigh of relief; it was only her father. However, as soon as she picked up the phone, his panicked voice made her heart leap into her throat.

"Keyleth. I just got a call from Circonis, Raishan Dynamics. just demolished Pyrah! I--"

Keyleth didn't hear the rest of what her father said as the phone dropped from her hand, whole body beginning to quake uncontrollably as images of the town reduced to rubble flashed through her mind, horrific visions of children pinned beneath the rubble and screaming in agony.

"Hey, Kiki? You okay?"

Keyleth jolted out of her fear-induced trance, staring wide eyed at Vax. 

"K-keyleth?"

She sank to the ground, hugging herself tightly and trembling; her mind an indecipherable mess of fear, anger, grief and guilt. Almost immediately, she felt Vax's arms around her and she clung to him, trying to suppress the tremors. Several times she opened her mouth to try and speak, but all that came out were shaking and stilted sounds.

Vax's phone went off next; a loud rock song that got shut off almost immediately and the phone cast aside. He just held Keyleth tightly, gently stroking her hair. It went off again, not sounding any different but still seeming to be more urgent. "Vex, get that for me, I'm kinda preoccupied."

Vex nodded and picked up the device, answering the call. 

"Vax'ildan, it's Corrin; Keyleth's father. Is she okay? I got cut off from her and with what's going on I fear for her safety."

"Oh, Corrin." Vex's normally unreadable voice betrayed concern and mild surprise. "Actually this is Vex'ahlia; Vax's twin. My brother is currently comforting your daughter; what you told her seems to have distressed her a great deal. What happened?"

"One of our sister towns, Pyrah, has very recently been destroyed by Raishan Dynamics in what looked like a bid to win power for Thordak Co."

Vex's eyes narrowed, her voice becoming stern. "And why did you tell her this? Surely you knew it would have this effect."

Corrin hesitated before replying, "my intent was to warn her to stay away from Pyrah and Terra and to postpone heading to Vesra. We're unsure if this is a one-off occurrence or if Raishan Dynamics is targeting the Ashari directly. If you can, tell her that Zephra is safe for the time being. If the Diseased Deceiver and her goons come for us, we'll be ready."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so late, I've been really busy with recording and editing gameplay videos alongside getting really shitty rolls against writer's block. But hey, at least we're finally into the plot eh?


End file.
